Somebody, Somewhere
by Red Narcissus
Summary: When Reno finds his doppelganger on the streets of Edge he's forced to question his loyalty to New Shinra and his friends and colleagues. Slash. Axel and Reno. FF7 Crossover with Kingdom Hearts, but now posted here because it's mainly set in this world.
1. Heartless

Axel expected to die, but he's somehow still conscious. When he's rejected by his somebody something draws him into another world entirely. A story about Axel and Reno. Will be yaoi in later chapters fyi. M for swearing and later chapter smut.

_Somebody, Somewhere_

Dissolution wasn't painful but he hadn't expected consciousness. _Roxas?_ he thought, _Are you there? I only wanted to see you again. Sora?_

Was it worth it? Why had he done it? Because it was _something,_ rather than nothing. Because they said he had no heart, but sometimes he felt _something _– interest – amusement – affection? - and he'd always been one to throw himself into things whole-heartedly - as Lea, as Axel – that hadn't changed. When you put your whole being into something – and still they said you had no heart – what then?

What now? He was conscious, but he had no body. No heart, no body – he could hear his own laughter in his mind, and yet he had no voice, no brain. _What do you call a Nobody with no body? _Isa might have come up with an answer. Saix might. Is there a letter for this… condition? X was for the Nobodies – Xemnas and his X-Blade obsession – what letter would represent this state of conscious nothingness? Z – for Zero? He tried out permutations: Zaxel, Lazex, Zexal, Zlaxe. The letters stopped making sounds after a while – drifted, meaningless, disassociated from whatever they had ever represented.

No. _Axel._ Got it memorized?

_But – you were Lea first. What happened to Lea? Did he die when you lost your heart? Well – of course – nobody can live without a heart. _Somebodies_ can't, anyway. But if Lea died, and Axel died, then why can you still think? Does that mean Lea is here somewhere too – a drifting consciousness? Dead, but still somehow aware? _

_ Lea? Lea? _

Axel found that he had no awareness of time. Thoughts moved through whatever it was that now constituted his mind. He was aware of a huge and massy silence surrounding him. There seemed to be no other consciousnesses here – or at least none that he could connect with. That realisation made him feel dread and loneliness. He _felt_ the two emotions, distinct as contrasting flavours or clashing colours – remembered the feelings from long ago, when he'd been somebody.

_How can you feel with no heart and no body? But – I remember - this is fear. I don't want to feel fear. This can't be my eternity – flooded with emotions I couldn't feel as a Nobody! Is it a punishment, for the things I did? Is it a kind of hell? _

Something else was with him, in the darkness, or the light. He had no sense of sight in this place – only thought and memory.

_Lea?_

Lea's voice – his own voice, but younger sounding – echoed clear in his consciousness, although he had no hearing – no sense of sound as vibration. It felt like a memory of things Lea might have said – might say.

Lea's voice was full of emotions – none of them positive.

_You! I – gave in? The darkness! Keep away from me! You're not me!_

_ I'm your Nobody, _Axel said – or thought.

_You're everything I fought! I'm me – Lea – got it memorized? I'm immortal – you're nothing. Leave me alone! Where's Isa?_

Axel felt emotions when he heard that name – or, at least, remembered having once felt them. Isa. Saix. _Friendship. Sorrow. _

_ Wherever Isa is, he's not here. But Lea - if we joined together, we might be whole –_

_ No! I'm Lea! You're darkness and death. Leave me alone!_

_ But – you're my somebody –_

_ Find somebody ELSE! _I'm_ Lea. I don't need you! _

Axel felt as though Lea had physically shoved him away with unnatural strength, although he had no physical form to be moved. He felt as though he was falling, faster and faster, but he had no sense of direction. He thought he heard Lea's voice saying, "Die! Go! Dissolve!"

_ I will not dissolve. I'm Axel. Memorized. I won't forget. Axel. I will find a somebody – somewhere -_

Then there was a blur of light and flickering grey and white lines. Axel had a sudden powerful sense of his physical body – real – substance and weight and form – and falling –

falling –

(x)

Reno approached the still figure cautiously. This had been a common enough ruse in the streets of the slums – someone appearing wounded or dead, then a knife at your throat and goodbye to your cash and your phone. The price of sympathy. Not so likely in Edge though – not in Reeve and Rufus' shining new city built on law and order (and no questions asked about where the money had come from in the first place). Not much for an ex-Turk to do these days, aside from patrolling quiet streets and looking for PR opportunities to convince the public that all the Turks were on the side of the light now. Elena enjoyed helping people. Rude didn't voice an opinion, but seemed sanguine. Tseng's job kept him close to Rufus, and Reno suspected that _his_ work, at least, hadn't changed as much as the public might have been persuaded to think. Reno wondered whether he was the only one who missed the bad old days.

"Hey, stranger!" he called as he approached the black-clad figure, sprawled face down on the pavement. "Wakey wakey. Can't sleep it off here, yo – makin' Rufus' nice clean streets all untidy."

"Wha…" The figure on the ground shifted slightly. One gloved hand went to his head, which was concealed by the hood of the strange black coat he wore. For a moment Reno was reminded of Yazoo – the Sephiroth remnant he had fought with on these same streets not quite two years ago. Officially those who had been Turks no longer carried weapons, but Reno hadn't lost his mind along with his Turk status, and his left hand closed around the flick-knife in his jacket pocket. There was also a small handgun in his shoulder holster. He hoped it would prove unnecessary.

"Are you hurt?" Reno asked, keeping a wary distance.

"Don't think so. I – I fell, I think."

"Right. Can you stand?"

"Yeah."

"Then get up and put your hands above your head where I can see 'em."

"Right."

Reno frowned as he watched the black-clad man stand with easy grace and raise his hands slowly. There was something odd about the stranger's voice – something weirdly familiar. Something about his movements, too. He didn't seem to be hurt, but he was suddenly very still. Then he took a step forward and began to lower his hands.

"Stop there!" Reno ordered. "Keep your hands over your head."

"But – you – you're…"

"What the fuck? I _said_ get your hands up!"

Instead of complying, the man flipped back the deep hood of his coat and stared at Reno. Reno looked into the stranger's face and found that it wasn't a stranger's face at all. He moved forward, concerns about danger vanished in astonishment. "No fuckin' way!" he exclaimed.

Reno reached towards the face that so closely mirrored his own, even as Axel's left hand touched his cheek. "You?" Axel asked. "Is it you?"

Reno's thumb pressed lightly against the purple tattoo below Axel's right eye even as Axel's traced the curve of the red line along Reno's right cheekbone. Neither of them pulled away: the touches seemed natural – the way each of them would examine his own face if he saw something unexpected in the mirror. They registered differences – Axel's eyes were greener, Reno's bluer, but they both mixed green and blue. Their hair was cut differently, but the flame red was the same. Their faces were almost identical – the slant of their eyes, the slight up-turned tilt of their noses, their pale skin, the shape of their mouths. Even the way that their incredulity manifested as disbelieving half smiles, the left corners of their mouths quirking upward, was exactly the same.

Neither of them felt any hurry to stop looking, touching. Each of them found the other's scrutiny understandable – even welcome. Axel thought that no one had ever looked at him this closely before – really looking – seeing him as though he were _somebody_.

"Nice ink," Reno said, fingers still on Axel's skin.

Axel used that as an excuse to stroke the red lines on Reno's cheekbones again. "Yours too."

"Bet that hurt – right under your eyes?"

"I can't remember. I wasn't really aware – they just – appeared."

Reno laughed. "Good night, huh?"

Axel shook his head, confused. "I can't remember. Did – yours hurt?"

"Stung like hell," Reno grinned. He let his hands drop to his sides, and Axel did the same, slowly, wondering why he felt reluctant to move away.

"Twins?" Reno wondered aloud. "It's possible. I was left under a table in a bar in the Sector Three slums. Never knew my mom."

"I – didn't have a mother," Axel said. "Not exactly. I remember a woman – but Nobodies don't have mothers."

"You're not a nobody! Hey – no one with _this_ face is a nobody, yo! Must be twins. We're too alike for it to be a coincidence. You even sound like me!"

Something in Axel twisted at that. "You sound like _me_, you mean! I'm Axel – got it memorized?"

"Axel. Roger that. I'm Reno."

"Reno. Not – Lea?"

"Nope – Reno. Always been Reno. You hit your head when you fell?"

"Maybe. I can't remember. Only falling."

Reno looked up into the clear blue sky. "What – you tripped? Ain't nowhere you coulda fallen _from_."

Axel looked up too, turned to scan the surrounding buildings. He was right in the centre of a square plaza. Even if he taken a flying leap from the top of the nearest tall building there was no way he could have ended up in the middle of this wide open space. It reminded him of somewhere he knew – a square often bathed in evening sunlight below a tall tower in a town whose name had somehow dissolved from his mind. "Perhaps I fell from the clock tower?" he asked.

"Clock tower? Where?" Reno ran his hands quickly over Axel's head, checking for contusions or bumps. The texture of Axel's hair surprised him – it looked so spiky that he'd been expecting coarse, thick hair, or stiff gel, but it was very soft – just like his own. Former lovers had often commented on that.

Axel looked at Reno, a feeling of panic somewhere inside him. Why couldn't he remember?

"I fell," he said. "I'm sure I fell. It felt like falling. Are we still in that town – T – T – Why can't I remember?"

"T?" Reno asked. "No, man! This is Edge. Midgar Edge. You know, I can't think of a single town starts with a T. We'd better get you checked over."

"What?" Axel seemed dazed.

Reno grinned and reached for Axel's wrist, pressing two fingers over the pulse point. When he realised what Reno was doing Axel shook his head. "No good," he said, "I'm a Nobody. Heartless."

"Ah, c'mon! People used to say that about me too, you know? Heartless. Said we all were. Guess we did some stuff back then…" To his surprise Reno found that he didn't want to give a bad impression of himself to Axel, so he added quickly, "But it's different now. We're all out to save the world now."

Axel only gave him a confused look. "I don't have a heart," he explained. "I thought you were Lea – I thought you had our heart –"

"You need a doctor. But your heart's not the problem. Pulse is fine."

"What? It can't be! I don't have –"

"Well something's pumping your blood around your body – even if it ain't getting to your brain! Come on – you're coming with me. Rufus Shinra's doctors will check you over – he still has the best money can buy."

But Axel didn't move. He held his own fingers to his wrist, then to the side of his neck. His expression changed to awed disbelief as he felt the beat, steady beneath the pressure of his fingers. "I – have a heart?" he murmured.

"What is _with_ you?" Reno cried, exasperated. "Yeah – you have a heart. Hate to break it to you buddy, but that don't exactly make you unique around here. Gaia – don't tell me I find my long-lost twin and it turns out he's an idiot! Rude and Elena'll never let me hear the end of this. I can hear Elena already – 'Well – you must be _identical_ twins then'! C'mon." Seizing Axel's wrist, Reno began to pull him in the direction of the New Shinra building. Still stunned by the discovery of his heart, Axel went with him, unresisting.

It took him four blocks before he thought to ask, "Who's Rufus Shinra?"

End of Chapter One.


	2. Magnetic

**AN. I kind of forgot about this story. Thank you to those people who reviewed. You're very kind, and sorry I didn't update. I may move this over to the Final Fantasy fandom next chapter, because I think now it's mostly going to be based in that world. But since I started it over here I'll carry on here for now. **

Two

Reno looked at Axel, trying to work out whether or not he was being serious. Studying Axel's expression, he found that he knew what Axel was feeling – because he knew what it meant when _he_ looked like that. Seeing not only his own face, but also his emotions, presented to him in this external fashion was oddly unnerving.

"You don't know who Rufus Shinra is," Reno stated. "You really don't. Where did you come from?"

"I don't know," Axel replied frowning in a way that told Reno he was being truthful. "All I remember is falling. I was in some kind of fight. I thought I was dead – surrounded by – things without hearts – and then I was somewhere else, drifting. Then I fell, and I was here."

"Don't sweat it," Reno said. "We'll figure it out. Must've hit your head, or something. Some kinda amnesia. You stick with me. Reckon we have to be related. The labs will be able to match DNA."

"You really think we're brothers?"

_Hope not. _The thought sparked in Reno's mind, burned into his consciousness – no way to extinguish it now. He didn't look back at Axel as he said, "Can't think of another explanation. You sure look a lot like me."

"You look like me, you mean."

Reno was too shocked by the revelation of his own narcissism to argue. Rude and Elena would sometimes accuse him of vanity, and he'd laugh and make the kinds of reply they expected - "Yeah – well I do _own _a mirror!" and, "_You'd_ be this vain - if you were this hot." But the truth was that he never really thought much about it. He knew a lot of people liked the way he looked, and that was fine by him, but it wasn't as though he spent a long time staring at his own reflection. To be forced to acknowledge that he found Axel fiercely attractive – that was an unwelcome surprise.

"Okay," he said, distracting himself from disturbing thoughts, "Rufus Shinra. Was president of the Shinra Electric Power Company – controlled all energy production on the planet. Various – things – happened. Kind of a war. Big meteor fell – almost - right above this city. City was called Midgar. Any of that ringin' any bells?"

"No," replied Axel. "Nothing."

"Well, Rufus was the boss. Then, after the shit hit the fan, this new group – The World Regenesis Organisation – took charge. Led by a man named Reeve Tuesti, who used to be on the board of directoris at Shinra. But Rufus ain't down and out yet. He's rebuilding. This city now – we call it Edge. This is Shinra's city, no matter what anyone tells you. Got it?"

"Memorised. So – you're what, to this Rufus Shinra? Apart from on his side."

"That's it mainly," Reno replied, looking pleased. "On his side. Yeah. Guess you could say 'left hand man'."

"_Left _hand?"

"That's the way it is. Tseng – my immediate boss – he'd be right hand man. Anyway –" Reno waggled his left hand in the air above his head – "Left handed."

"Me too."

"Figures. Maybe we really are twins."

There was a phenomenon Rufus had mentioned once – GSA. Reno remembered the conversation. Rufus had commented with a wry smile, after meeting his father's bastard son Evan for the first time: "Well, at least it seems I'm not prone to GSA, which, given my father's unfortunate tendency to impregnate women everywhere he went, is just as well. Who knows how many more half-siblings are going to pop up in the future?"

Reno, whose inquisitive nature had provided most of his education in lieu of formal schooling, had asked what Rufus was talking about.

"Genetic sexual attraction," Rufus had replied. "Genes calling to each other, I suppose. Like with like. Remember all those Sephiroth clones seeking reunion? With humans, it's the similarities that often make relatives we haven't met until adulthood attractive. I read about it when I first found out about Lazard. Although in my case it was more like instant genetic antipathy. A strong reaction, anyway."

Reno remembered laughing. "Well – if I've got any long-lost siblings, I reckon the hair'll be a dead giveaway. As long as I don't go falling for any redheads, I should be safe. Although – in the department -"

"You've all been tested for everything," Rufus had observed. "If you were related to Cissnei or Rod, you'd have been told."

Reno hadn't said anything, but that information had come as a double relief.

Now, as he led the way across City Plaza and past the twice re-built Shinra monument, Reno wondered whether he was experiencing what Rufus had been talking about. Reno had never been one to dwell on things he couldn't change, preferring to make the most of the present, but he had sometimes wondered about his family over the years. Who was the woman – assuming it had been his mother - who had left him as a five-month-old baby in a busy Sector Three slum bar? He'd been found in a battered leather holdall with one broken handle, wrapped in a blue blanket which looked new. A piece of paper, pinned to the blanket with a safety pin, bore a single sentence in printed, round handwriting: "his name is reno." The staff of the Shinra orphanage he'd been taken to had kept nothing that had been found with him except for a photocopy of the paper. He only knew about the circumstances of his abandonment from the notes in his file, handed over to him when he turned sixteen. Not given to fantasy, Reno had assumed, from the available evidence, that his mother had been either very young, or poor and uneducated, and his father either not around at all, or not interested in raising an unwanted kid. He'd been kept for an estimated five months though – so maybe someone had at least tried? If there had been siblings, Reno had always guessed they'd have come later - most likely half-siblings. The possibility of a twin brother had never occurred to him. If Axel _was_ his twin, had he been abandoned too, somewhere else? Or had two babies been one too many? If so, why had they – _she_ – kept Axel and let Reno go? No point thinking about that. The point was it seemed almost certain that Axel must be his twin. He looked the same age. He was left-handed. His height, lean-muscled frame, bone-structure – everything was virtually identical. This attraction must be GSA. In which case, it would just have to be ignored.

_Why? _Whispered a treacherous voice in Reno's mind. _What harm would it do? Not like we'd be at risk of having kids with genetic problems if we – _

Ugh! No. So wrong. In which case, why did the thought of it make Reno so undeniably aroused? Well – because of this weird GSA phenomenon, obviously. At least he knew about it. If Axel turned out to feel the same, Reno would be able to explain what was going on. Knowing what it was would make it much easier to overcome, wouldn't it? But perhaps Axel would feel nothing of the kind. Reno's sex drive had been pretty much stuck in top gear from adolescence on. Did being his twin mean Axel's would be the same? And Reno had never been fussy about gender, which, he'd come to realise over the years, wasn't all that common. Statistically, Axel was most likely to be straight, even if they were twins.

_I can't believe I'm even thinking this!_ Reno thought. He walked faster, determined to hand Axel over to Rufus' doctors as soon as he possibly could.

New Shinra occupied the tallest building in Edge. It was even taller than the imposing headquarters of the World Regenesis Organisation, which Reeve, of course, had designed himself. Aside from Reno, everyone had tried to persuade Rufus to change the name of the company, but he'd adamantly refused. Reno got that. How could anyone see that Shinra had changed if it was no longer called Shinra? Ever since the devastation caused by Weapon, then Meteor, then the Omega incident, Reno had always seen the rebuilding of Shinra as the goal they were working towards. His own loyalty to the company had surprised him at first, but when he thought about it, it made sense. Shinra was his home – the only real home he'd ever known. And Rufus was Shinra. Simple. It pleased Reno that Axel had seen straight away that Reno was on Rufus' side. Perhaps Axel would join them, once his memory returned? It had been a long time since they'd brought in a new recruit to the department that had once been unofficially known as the Turks. Could Axel fight? Did he have any other skills Shinra could use? Questions for later. Reno led Axel through the automatic doors of the New Shinra building, and headed for the elevators that would take them up to the seventieth floor, and Tseng's office.

Tseng looked from Reno to Axel and back. "Yes," he said finally, "I see. I should think twins is the most likely scenario, given the circumstances of your childhood, Reno. But we've only recently begun the detailed analysis of all the data we retrieved from Hojo's encrypted files. There are other possibilities. Cloning, for example. Hojo was obsessed with cloning."

"But we must be about the same age," Reno pointed out.

"We've already found research into age acceleration developed to advance breeding programmes," Tseng said. "As I said, I think the natural explanation is the most likely, but it's too early to rule anything out." Tseng's expression softened then, almost imperceptibly. Reno knew him well enough to see it, and to read it as sympathy. "Don't worry, Reno," Tseng said. "Wherever Axel came from, he's welcome here." Turning to Axel he asked, "Would you have any objections if we got the labs to run some tests? A DNA test seems the first priority. If you're not related to Reno, then we have a mystery on our hands. If you are – or if this is a case of cloning – the test will prove it."

"Yes. I want to know," Axel replied. "I hate not being able to remember. I always – I used to try to memorise things. People. Places. I wanted people to remember me. I was… _real_."

Reno patted Axel on the back. He told himself it was only a friendly gesture, but the urge for physical contact with this strange doppelganger was almost a compulsion. "Don't worry," he said. "We'll get you checked out. Something happened to you to make you lose your memory. We'll find out what it was."

In the elevator on the way down to the labs, Reno and Axel stood silently side by side, trying not to look at each other's reflections in the mirrored walls. Axel said suddenly, "It can't be chance, can it?"

"No," Reno replied.

"We're supposed to be together."

"Yes."

Axel looked at the floor, then back up at Reno. His expression contained all the doubt and longing Reno was feeling. "I – I keep wanting to touch you," Axel said.

"So much!" Reno answered. "It's – it's a thing. Genetic –" he made himself say the word – "Sexual - Attraction. It just happens. We can't help it. But we have to ignore it, yeah? It would be wrong."

"Yes. I know. It's just –"

"I know."

The labs at New Shinra were much less frightening than Hojo's sinister domain had been. The rooms were clean and full of light, and the staff efficiently friendly. The young woman who took Axel's blood smiled in a reassuring manner as she sealed samples into different phials and labelled them carefully. "It will take a few hours to get the results," she said. "We should have some answers for you by tomorrow morning. Tseng has asked us to make this a priority, but DNA tests take some time." She looked at Reno and then at Axel in a way that was already becoming familiar. "I'd be astonished if you two _weren't_ related though," she said. "Unless…" Her smile faltered, as the possibility of Shinra's past association with human experimentation belatedly occurred.

"Anything's possible," Reno replied. "That's what we want to find out."

"Oh – yes. Of course. I'll make sure these get processed straight away."

"Thanks," said Reno and Axel together, their voices, postures and expressions identical.

Back in the elevator Axel looked at Reno. "What now?"

"Now we go see the doctor and make sure you don't have concussion or something. What can you remember?"

"Not much. I was in a fight, like I said. I thought I'd been killed."

"You fight a lot?"

"Yes. I mean – yes, I think so. I had – weapons."

"What kind?"

Axel held up his hands, as if reaching for something. "I – I can't remember."

"But you used both hands? So – two separate weapons, or one big one? Like guns? A shotgun? A sword?"

Axel shook his head. "I don't think so. I'm not sure."

"But you were trained in combat?"

"I think I was. I think I might have been some kind of a soldier. There were enemies we had to fight – things without hearts. But then, I have no heart either."

"You have a heart. We've been through this."

"_Here _I do." Axel frowned. "There, I don't think I did. Why can't I remember? I can't even remember where _there_ was!"

Reno led the way out of the elevator as they reached floor thirty where the staff medical centre was located. "Maybe you shouldn't try to remember yet?" Reno said. "I shouldn't have pushed you. Let's get you checked over first."

Reno watched as Axel disappeared inside the top-of-the-range full body scanner. Who knew what one of those cost? Rufus' money seemed to be limitless in spite of recent news reports confirming that the WRO had seized various Shinra assets to create a fund from which compensation would be paid if Shinra was ever forced to admit liability for anything that had happened. Since Rufus' money paid for the very best lawyers on the planet, that eventuality was looking increasingly unlikely.

Thinking about finances distracted Reno from the anxiety he felt about Axel. It was ridiculous – he knew nothing about Axel beyond their uncanny physical similarities – and yet he already felt as worried about his condition as he might have done if Rude or Elena had been injured.

The doctor was checking readouts on a screen in front of him. After about ten minutes, when the scan was complete, he turned to Reno, who had been joined by Axel, stretching after being forced to keep still while the scanner did its work. "Physically there's nothing wrong with you at all," the doctor said to Axel. "No head trauma, no swelling, nothing to suggest a fall. You're running a little hot, but that's all. I can't see any physical cause of the memory loss you describe."

"What about my heart?" Axel asked. Reno almost flinched. Physically Axel may be fine, but this obsession with his heart was beginning to sound unhealthy.

"Your heart is in perfect order," the doctor said. "Do you have any reason to think it might not be?"

"Not – really. No."

"We'd like to run some psychological tests," the doctor informed Axel. "Actually, Reno, we'd like you to take them, too. If you _are_ twins, the results could be interesting."

"Thought I did all that shit when I joined Shinra?" Reno said. "But okay. I'm as sane as I ever was, I guess. I don't mind."

For the next two hours Reno and Axel sat next to each other in a small office, completing various tests of intelligence, verbal and numerical reasoning, and psychological profiling.

When the tests were over, the doctor reappeared, collected up the papers, and said, "Okay. We'll have the results in the morning. You can go."

"You don't want to keep him here?" Reno asked.

"No need. Physically he's fine. I don't think he poses any risk to himself, you, or the population at large."

"So – what do I do with him?"

"Ask your boss," the doctor shrugged. "Not my decision."

Reno looked at Axel. "There are bunks here," he said. "For anyone who needs to stay over for work. Or I guess you could come home with me."

Axel looked at Reno. "I'll come home with you," he said. "If you don't mind."

Reno wasn't at all sure that Axel's decision was a wise one, but he couldn't help feeling absurdly pleased that he'd made it.


	3. Smoke and Fire

**Smoke and Fire**

"It's still early," Reno said, as he led the way out of the New Shinra building. "Are you hungry? Wanna grab something to eat?"

Axel thought, trying to remember when he'd last eaten. "I – I think I'm hungry, yes," he replied. Reno grinned at his hesitation. "You _think_? Well – that's one difference between us. Never had to think about that in my life. Either I am, or I ain't – and I'm starving, yo! Let's go."

"Can we get ice cream?" Axel asked. Reno rolled his eyes. "If you want. I was thinking pizza or Wutaian."

"What's Wutaian?"

"You've never had Wutaian? Okay – that's what we're doing. You'll like it – it's good."

"All right. And then ice cream?"

Reno laughed. "You got a real thing for ice cream, don't ya?"

"Yes. We always used –" Axel stopped, confused.

"Yeah?" Reno prompted.

"I'm not sure. I thought I remembered something. My friends and I used to meet up and we had ice cream, I think. It was blue."

"Tell me about your friends."

"Well – there was Ro- Or, no, didn't it start with an S? And the other one – she –" Axel pressed his fingers against his temples. "That doctor said I was okay, but I can't remember. I can't even remember their names! There were two of them – I'm sure. We used to buy ice cream - and there was a message. It said 'winner'. What was that about?"

"Can you remember their faces?"

"No. We were just Nobodies."

Reno shook his head. "You said that before – that you were a nobody. You can't go thinking like that. Look – I was left in a bar when I was five months old, in a broken holdall. Nothin' with me but a note saying that my name was Reno. Not even a whole name, yo! They sent me to an orphanage. It sucked. As soon as I could, I ran away, but the streets were worse. In the end I went back. They used to tell us we were nobodies there, too – how we should be grateful an' shit." He paused, wondering at himself. He never talked about this stuff – not even to Rude. But somehow, with Axel, he didn't feel stupid trying to explain how he felt. Taking a breath, he continued, "But I always knew I wasn't what they said. Always felt there was something more, and that when I found it I'd know who I was. I found Shinra – or Shinra found me. Maybe it wasn't exactly what I thought I was looking for, but it was what I needed. I fitted, there. Axel – you have to _make_ yourself into somebody. Then no one can take it away."

"But – there are shadows – things without hearts. You don't know – they take everything. Your self –" Axel was growing visibly agitated, his green eyes wide, focussed on something only he could see.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Reno. "It's okay, buddy. We don't have to do this now. Let's get that food, yeah? Concussion can be weird – and whatever the doc said, I bet that's what this is. Your memory will come back – give it time."

"Okay." Axel looked at Reno. "Okay. You're right – I shouldn't try to force it. When we get those results tomorrow we'll have more to work with, won't we?"

"Yeah. But for now, let's go eat!"

Reno was half way through a bowl of his favourite fried chocobo with chilli noodles when he remembered that he was supposed to be meeting Rude for a drink after work – half an hour ago. His first, familiar impulse was to reach for his phone, guilty that he'd forgotten, but then he found himself hesitating, experiencing a feeling he didn't like, but couldn't prevent: a reluctance to see his best friend and partner – an odd sense of apprehension at the thought of introducing him to Axel. Something else, too, something even less welcome – a feeling associated in his mind with Axel that he could only think of as _possessive_.

Axel glanced up at him, busy trying to get the hang of chopsticks, which it seemed he really hadn't ever used before. When he saw Reno's expression, Axel's own dismay mirrored it. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! I – I forgot I was supposed to be meeting someone."

"Oh. Then – you should go."

"No – it's okay. I'll call him. I'll - be a minute."

Reno got up from the low table and took his phone outside, feeling like a tool. He never lied to Rude – didn't want Axel to witness it now he was about to. Standing in the doorway of the closed pawnshop next to the restaurant, Reno felt slightly sick at the relief he felt when Rude's phone went to voicemail, but he was glad that at least now he could stick to vague truth.

"Yeah – it's me. Sorry – I can't make it tonight. Something came up – tell you at work tomorrow. Sorry."

Shit. And now Rude would know that something was seriously wrong, because Reno almost never apologised – and definitely never apologised _twice_!

Reno slunk back into the restaurant. He tried to assume a cheerful expression, but Axel understood him too well to be fooled. Reno toyed with his food, his appetite gone. When he finally met Axel's questioning gaze, Reno found himself suddenly angry.

"I –" Axel began, but Reno shook his head sharply.

"No. It's not your fault."

"Not yours, either."

"I can't stand this. I just –"

"I know." Axel leaned across the table and raised one hand to touch Reno's face. "I want –"

Reno flinched away, hands raised defensively, pressing back into the wall behind him as though he could escape through it. "Don't say it! We _can't_!"

"It doesn't make any difference whether I say it or not. It's – there. There's no use in denying it."

"We don't have a choice."

Axel smiled. "No."

"No – that's not what I meant!"

Axel said, "It's not what you meant to mean – but it's the truth. Reno –"

"Don't." Reno looked into Axel's eyes and had a sudden burning sense of danger. He'd never felt such an overwhelming sense of attraction – such a physical pull. The part of him that was ashamed was much weaker than the part that yearned. Axel seemed to feel no shame. His smile was wicked – irresistible.

Between them, the tablecloth burst into flame. Reno acted without thinking, reaching across the fire to shove Axel back out of harm's way. A shocked waiter rushed towards them with a small fire extinguisher and covered the table in foam, quenching the flames at once. Axel, unscathed, looked over at Reno. The sleeves of Reno's jacket were scorched, but he was unharmed.

Having checked that both customers were nothing more than singed, the waiter pointed at a sign above the bar. "No smoking," he said.

"We weren't smoking!" Reno protested.

Axel laughed. "Speak for yourself," he said under his breath, catching Reno's eye and winking. To the waiter he said, "It must have been the candle. Dangerous, having an open flame like that. You shouldn't take chances with fire."

The waiter, sensing trouble, acquiesced. "Yes, Sir. Shall I bring more food?"

"No," Axel replied, "I think we're done here. Reno?"

Reno was staring at Axel, not sure what was going on.

"Bring us the bill please," Axel said.

"On the house," the waiter replied, a little grudgingly. "With apologies for the fire."

"Thank you," said Axel, steering Reno outside. In the street, Reno turned to Axel. "There wasn't a candle on our table," he said.

"No."

"So – what happened?"

Axel raised his eyebrows. "You know what happened."

"No, I really don't. Either those chillies were scorching, or that was some trick with materia – and I don't have any of that any more. You?"

"Materia? What's that?"

Reno sighed. "And again, you're not kidding. Okay – how did you do that?"

"I didn't mean to."

"But it was you?"

"Unless it was you?"

"No. I told you – I don't have any materia. And what do you mean you didn't mean to?"

Axel's grin was infectious. He seemed different – more confident. "It's just that thing we do – with fire. I forgot I could do it, and it just happened, and then I remembered. Being near you – it's – inflammatory."

"I can't do that," Reno said. "I've never seen anyone do anything like that except Genesis – and he was enhanced. Can you control it?"

Axel took a step back from Reno and stood still, arms outstretched, head bowed. He looked up suddenly and Reno jumped, shocked, as a burning wall of violent yellow flames appeared around them in a perfect circle. Axel lowered his arms and the flames vanished. "Looks like – yes," Axel said.

"What _are_ you?"

"A Nobody, like I said. But I can work with fire."

Reno glanced up and down the street, which, fortunately, was deserted. "I'd keep that trick under wraps if I were you," he told Axel. "At least until we get those test results back. This looks too like Hojo's work for my liking."

"Hojo. The scientist Tseng mentioned?"

"Yeah." Reno jammed his hands into his pockets and set off in the direction of his apartment at a rapid pace. Axel matched it easily, walking beside him – their strides and gaits identical.

"What are you afraid of?" Axel asked. "What did Hojo do?"

"All kinds of things. Human experiments. Things even we didn't know about."

"We?"

"The Turks. The department I work for – worked for. We've been rebranded, but we'll always be the Turks."

"An intelligence organisation?"

"You could say that."

"That sounds familiar. I wonder whether I might have done something similar? So, you're afraid that I might be some kind of an experiment?"

"Maybe. Like a clone of me, but enhanced? Or maybe you are my twin, but Hojo got to you - added that fire ability somehow. There were always rumours that kids from the orphanages sometimes disappeared."

"If I were an experiment, would that change things?" Axel asked.

Reno thought of Sephiroth – of Weiss. Of Vincent Valentine, and his resident demons.

"I honestly don't know," he said. "If we were clones – what would that mean? Would it still explain this – draw?"

"I don't know," Axel replied. "I don't care, either. You can call it what you want – other people might call it wrong – but I need to be with you. You're the rest of me – I know you are. Reno, don't think so much. You need me too, don't you?"

"I want you. Yeah. Can't deny it. But that's not _need_. You have to be able to be alone. Can't go around needing people."

"Not _other _people. But we're not other people are we? We're the same."

Reno knew that if anyone else on the planet had said those words he would have recoiled instantly, all his 'crazy stalker' alarms blaring. He'd met enough people like that in his time – the girls who, after a couple of dates, dragged on his arm every time they passed a jewellers; the boys who, a few nights on, started with the jealous bullshit: "Who the hell's this Rude guy? How come you're seeing _him _tonight?"

But when Axel said it, Reno's reaction was completely different, and the difference scared him.

"We ain't the same," he said. "You – and that fire magic –"

"That's not important," Axel replied.

"And the most likely explanation is still that we're twins."

"I don't care."

"Well, I do."

"No you don't. You just think you should."

Axel's words made Reno uncomfortable, chiming too closely with the voice in his own head that was asking him again what harm it would do? They reached Reno's building – a tall white tower with a gleaming glass and chrome entrance lobby, black polished granite on the floor sparkling with chips of mica, mirrored elevators standing open. Axel looked around uneasily. Something about this space reminded him of another place – a high space filled with light where he had sat on some kind of council. Was that possible?

"I'm just renting," Reno said, looking at the décor with obvious distaste. "All this glittery shit ain't my style, you know? When they've finished rebuilding out in Old Five, I'm outta here."

"It doesn't matter _where_," Axel said. "Rooms are rooms. It's _who_ – that's what makes the difference. Someone – real."

"I guess."

In the elevator, Axel pressed Reno up against the wall and tried to kiss him. Reno turned his head to the side, although his whole body felt as though it were on fire, ignited by Axel's touch. "Don't." Reno said, making no move to push him away.

"Reno – you want me. It's radiating off you like heat," Axel said. "What's the point in trying to resist it? I don't understand why you want to."

Reno looked at Axel, who put his gloved hand against the side of Reno's face, and smiled. Reno wavered on the edge of surrender, vacillating like a flame in a draft.

"I don't want to. But doesn't it bother you at all that we're probably related?" Reno asked, hating the weakness in his voice.

"No. Nobodies don't have consciences."

Reno put his hand against Axel's chest. "Like they don't have hearts?" he asked. "But I can feel your heart beating. Axel – you're not right yet. You don't remember who you are – what happened to you. If we do this, you might hate it, when your memory comes back. You might be disgusted – like a normal person would be."

"Like you think you should be?" Axel asked.

"Yeah."

"But you're not."

"No. But then, I guess I never was a normal person. Normal people don't do the shit I've done."

"Tell me. Tell me the worst you've done."

Reno looked into Axel's eyes, and saw himself reflected there. There were plenty of people who knew the truth – the surviving members of Avalanche, Rufus, Reeve, Tseng, Rude and Elena – but Reno had never confessed his past crimes aloud before – had never discussed them with anyone at all. It was stupid – probably dangerous – but he heard himself saying the words anyway.

"I've killed people."

Axel nodded. "I've killed people."

"I've killed a lot of people."

"For the job?"

"Yeah, for the job."

Axel shrugged. "That's how it goes."

"But – I –"

"Doesn't matter to me."

"But, don't you want to know –"

"I know enough. It doesn't change anything. Reno, you're what's missing from me. Are you going to be quiet and let me kiss you now?"

Reno hesitated.

Axel kissed him anyway. When they finally pulled apart, the elevator doors had been open for some undefined length of time.

Reno opened the door to his apartment, Axel pressed close against him, one hand on Reno's hip, his lips against the back of Reno's neck. They kissed as they stumbled into the corridor, Reno kicking the door closed behind him as Axel's fingers caught in his hair, his gloves somehow already off. They kissed, hard and urgent, Reno's weight pushing Axel against the wall, as they ran their hands over each other in feverish exploration. They kissed as Axel dragged Reno through the open bedroom door, and Reno pushed Axel down onto the bed, took hold of the zipper of Axel's weird black coat, and pulled it all the way down.


	4. Choices

Thank you for the reviews and faves. Smut warning for this chap. mxm

* * *

><p>Chapter Four<p>

**Choices**

"One thing," Reno said, as Axel, now completely naked, lay beneath him, looking up into his eyes, smiling in a way that was as hot as it was wicked.

"Anything," Axel replied, unfastening the last button on Reno's shirt, which was all he was still wearing.

"We're not fucking, okay? Anything else, but not that. Not until we know for sure, and your memory comes back."

Axel's eyes narrowed, glittering, poison green. "You've killed people, but you won't fuck me on the off chance I'm your twin?"

"Yeah. Never claimed to be consistent. And it's more than an off chance."

"So, if tomorrow we find out we _are_ related, then we never touch each other again?" Axel put both hands in Reno's hair, and drew him down into a long kiss. Reno was the first to pull away, although he did it reluctantly. "I'm not saying that," he admitted. "But we'll know then. We need to know."

"I don't." Axel's eyes burned. "I know now. I want you. I don't care about genes or birth – we're supposed to be together. Can't you feel that?"

"Yeah. That's what bothers me. It's so – strong. I've never felt anything like this before."

"See? That's what I'm talking about. Why do you think I came here? Of all the possible worlds? _You _drew me – you."

"What do you mean – possible worlds?" Reno's unease only grew. What was this bullshit? Was Axel insane?

"I don't know. I was – floating." Axel struggled to remember. "I wanted to be with somebody, but he didn't want me, and so I came here."

Jealousy flared in Reno – actual physical pain.

"Who?" he demanded. "Who is he? Do you still want to be with him? Because I ain't being any part of that." Reno put his hands over his eyes. Perhaps he was the insane one?

"I can't stand to think of you with someone else," he confessed. "What the hell is wrong with me?"

"I don't know who it was. It doesn't matter. I found you. I don't want any one else."

"You don't know what you want! You don't even know who you are! We can't do this. I'll sleep on the couch." Reno started to move away, but Axel caught him around the waist, pulled him down and rolled them over so that Reno lay beneath him. Reno wasn't surprised to find that Axel was his equal in strength, although he knew he most likely could have gotten free if he'd tried harder.

"Stay with me," Axel said, his expression serious. "We don't have to do anything, but don't go. I just want to touch you." He laughed, and Reno couldn't help grinning in response.

"That sounded a lot dirtier than I meant it to," Axel smiled.

"Yeah. But I do know what you mean. Contact."

"Yes."

Axel kissed Reno again, in a way that should have been almost chaste – mouth closed, soft, quick pressure against Reno's lips. Reno was instantly on fire again.

"This isn't going to work!" he protested. "I don't have that much self control."

"I don't want you to go." Axel looked down at Reno, something dangerous glowing in his eyes. To anyone else it would have been a warning, but for Reno it only provoked sharper desire.

"I don't want to go," Reno admitted.

"So stay."

"No. I can't. Look – it's one night. Tomorrow we'll know." Reno moved to get out from under Axel. For an instant he thought he might have a fight on his hands, and felt a hot rush of something that should have been fear or panic, but wasn't. Axel saw it, and laughed softly like the assassin he claimed to be, as though Reno was a target who'd just walked straight into his sights. He rolled off Reno and lay on his back smiling slightly.

"That would absolve you of responsibility though, wouldn't it?" he murmured.

"You couldn't do it."

"Morally speaking? Or physically? Morally – well, I'm not sure I have any morals. But you're right - I wouldn't. Physically – yes, I could."

Reno was a lot less certain than he sounded when he replied, "Don't bet on it. Without that fire shit, yo - or if I had some materia to even things up a little – yeah, I could take you in a fight."

"Could you? It might be fun to find out. If you won't fuck, we could fight…"

"Tomorrow," Reno said firmly, propped on his right elbow, looking down at Axel. "I'm not touching you again tonight. If I do, I'm not going to be able to stop."

Axel sighed. "Okay." He closed his eyes, the flicker of a smile still dancing over his lips, and trailed his left hand slowly down his own body, lingering at his throat, pausing to tease a nipple with light fingers, moving lower over defined muscles, and lower still…

"What are you doing?" Reno asked, his voice catching, his throat dry.

Axel opened his eyes and gave Reno a look that might have been amused if there wasn't a kind of suppressed desperation behind it. "What does it look like? If _you_ won't touch me…"

"You can't just lie there and –"

"Why not?"

"I'm right here!"

"You're more than welcome to join in. Or to watch."

"Watch…"

"Yeah." Axel ran the flat of his hand over his hard cock, assessing Reno's reaction. He gave himself a few lazy strokes, his eyes on Reno's face. "You think this is hot," he stated, squeezing himself, his hips lifting slightly.

"Damn – yeah," was all Reno could manage.

"Doesn't count as anything _bad_," Axel prompted, "If we don't touch each other…"

"Yeah – yeah, I think it does."

"Well – then I guess we're just bad people." Axel held Reno's gaze and began to stroke himself in earnest, a faint flush blossoming under those strange inverted tear-drop tattoos under his eyes, his lips parting slightly as his breath quickened. Reno's cock had been hard since Axel had kissed him in the elevator; the sight of Axel's face mirroring exactly what his own reactions would be if he touched himself as Axel was doing now made him ache so intensely that he actually moaned.

Axel echoed the sound, his back arching off the mattress, his eyes closing. "My hand," he gasped, thrusting into his fist, "Your hand – what's the difference? It's the same – _we're_ the same –"

"Yeah," Reno agreed, unable to resist any longer, reaching for his own hot, heavy cock and groaning in mixed need and relief. Axel opened his eyes again and smiled his devilish smile.

"No difference," Axel murmured. "It could be your hand on me – mine on you –"

Reno leaned down, kissed the wicked, seductive lie right out of Axel's treacherous mouth, and found that it was true after all, because now that was Axel's cock in his hand, wasn't it? And the hand touching him so perfectly, just how he liked it, surely that was no longer his own? Light-headed, lust-drunk, they kissed and stroked and grasped each other, themselves, each other, until they lost all sense of the boundaries of their individual bodies. Every touch, every glimpse of bright red hair falling into eyes, pale skin, tight muscle and sinew and sharply angled bones – every moan and sigh and the quick in-drawn breaths identical in tone and timbre – every sensation could have belonged equally to either. Conjoined, they flowed together, rode the mounting wave together, came together with a wordless cry that could have been voiced by either of them, or both.

They lay side-by-side, no longer touching, only breathing, and slowly – slowly – becoming re-aware of themselves.

For a long time neither of them spoke. The only sound was the catch and release of their ragged breaths, which gradually steadied and slowed and quietened.

Then Axel said, "Tell me that was wrong."

"No," Reno replied. "It wasn't wrong."

"You're me," Axel said. "And I'm you."

"Ought to sound stupid," Reno commented, smiling. "Like some fucking _play_ or something."

"Does it?"

"No. Sounds… _true_."

Axel's hand found Reno's, and they lay together, needing nothing else, now, until they fell asleep.

(X)

Axel and Reno, standing so close that they were almost touching, awaited the verdict of the previous afternoon's tests, although they both knew already what the outcome must be. There were suddenly a lot of doctors and scientists in the bright laboratory on floor thirty-three of the New Shinra building. Behind Reno and Axel the elevator doors opened, revealing a serious-looking Tseng, holding a thick file. Reno and Axel turned simultaneously, their enquiring expressions identical.

"Well," Tseng said, without preamble, "You're not twins, not brothers, and not clones."

Reno and Axel stared at him, then at each other. "_Not?_" Reno managed.

"Not – related?" Axel asked. "Not even cousins or something?"

"Not related in any way that we could find," Shinra's chief scientist, Professor Melanie Rei, explained. "Your DNA doesn't match. It appears to be a complete coincidence, as though two entirely different sequences just happened to produce two separate individuals with an almost perfect resemblance to each other."

"That's not possible," Reno said, even as Axel exclaimed, "No –that's impossible!"

"I know it seems bizarre," Professor Rei said. "But if you think about it, it's not statistically impossible. From all we can determine you're genetically unrelated. You're just unusually well-matched doppelgangers."

"Yeah – but – that's only looks," Reno pointed out. "What about the other tests you did – the psych stuff – the aptitude shi – I mean – the aptitude tests?"

"They were close," Professor Rei conceded. "Very close. But there's no reason why combinations of genes that produced almost identical bodies shouldn't also produce closely matched minds."

"So that's it?" Reno asked. "We just accept that? _Well look at that, neat coincidence huh_?"

"I'm afraid there's nothing else we can do. You're not genetically related in any way. That's an irrefutable fact."

"But –" Axel and Reno protested in unison. They looked at each other, wondering.

"This poses some problems," Tseng said, "Although not the ones we were anticipating. Axel – the doctors would like to run a few more tests and another scan to see whether we can make anything of your memory loss. Reno, while that's being done, I'll see you in my office. It's a work-related matter."

"Sure Boss. I'll just take Axel down to the hospital floor, then I'll be right up."

Tseng looked as though he was about to protest, but then he nodded. "All right. Make it quick."

"Sir."

Reno looked at Axel, and Axel knew that look.

"C'mon. I'll take you down," Reno said.

As soon as they were alone in the elevator, Axel whispered, "What?"

"I think you should get out of here," Reno replied, his voice low. "I don't like the way this is going. I'm going to drop you off on Thirty like I told Tseng, and then go to the meeting. Say you need the bathroom or something, get back to the elevator, go down to the lobby, straight out the main doors and then run."

Axel didn't question Reno's instructions or ask his reasons. "Okay. Where shall I meet you?"

"If you're sure you're not being followed go to my apartment – " Reno reached into his pocket and handed Axel a keycard. "Collect food and warm clothes – there's a loaded gun under the bed – then get out as fast as you can. Leave the door on the latch so I can get in, but take the card with you. There's a kids' play park at the end of New Street and a coffee shop opposite. Wait for me in the coffee shop. I'll come when it's safe."

"New Street. Got it."

Before the elevator doors opened Reno leaned across and kissed Axel once, quickly. "Wait for me," he said. "I'll be there. Now – act casual."

"Hi Doc," Reno called as he exited the elevator, Axel following. "Here's Axel for those tests Tseng ordered. I've got a meeting now – I'll be back to pick him up in – what? Half an hour?"

"Make it an hour," the doctor said, and something in the way his eyes only flickered towards him before looking back at his notes told Reno that his suspicions were justified.

"Will do," Reno replied. "See ya later Axel!"

"Yes – later," Axel echoed.

Reno smiled until the elevator doors closed, then he thrust his hands into his pockets, frowning. New Shinra! There was nothing new about this. The only question was whether it was Tseng who had decided that Axel posed a threat, or whether the orders came straight from Rufus.

Tseng was standing looking out of the long windows down into Edge. Reno made himself smile. "Boss?"

Tseng turned. "Reno. Is Axel having his tests now?"

"Yeah – I just left him with the Doc. He don't remember much and that's a fact."

"You're sure of that?"

"Yeah, I think so. Why – you think he might be faking?"

"Hm. It's possible. What do you make of him, Reno?"

"Don't know yet. It's weird, how much he looks like me. I can't believe we're not related."

"That's the difficulty. I'm afraid we're going to have to keep Axel here until we can find out more about him. There's always the possibility that he was a part of some program of Hojo's we haven't unearthed yet. It seems unlikely that his resemblance to you is coincidental."

"Well – yeah. I think so. And that I found him. I mean – what are the chances, huh?"

"Exactly. Rufus has a theory that the board might have deliberately found doubles for key members of Shinra, and then engineered them to be almost perfect. Perhaps in case they ever needed to replace someone who was killed."

"I might buy that if we'd found a Rufus lookalike, or a Heidegger or something. But I'm not a key member of Shinra – even less so back then. Turks have always been expendable – why make a copy of a Turk?"

"Yes – that's what I was thinking. What if the copy wasn't a replacement, but a double designed to infiltrate? The real Turk could be kidnapped or killed, and the copy sent in to obtain information, or even assassinate someone."

"But Axel isn't an exact double. The tattoos – his eyes…"

"Perhaps he was a work in progress? Or maybe he got loose after Hojo's death and had the tattoos afterwards. His memory loss could be the result of incomplete neural programming – and if so, he could be a threat. What if he's programmed to kill someone and a simple trigger word is enough to activate that programming? This could be the work of some other group and nothing to do with Hojo. Shinra is being held responsible for much of what happened, after all."

"You mean you think he's some kind of robot?"

"No. The tests showed that he's human. I'm talking about neural programming. They used to use that on some of the SOLDIER recruits. You can make almost anyone do anything given the right programming. The human brain is a vulnerable thing…"

Reno said nothing, but images from his past confirmed the truth of that. Physically nothing but pinkish-grey slurry. Mentally – everything and nothing. The whole of a person, and yet so easily manipulated – so easily confused and controlled and broken. Who was Axel? Without his memories, was he fully _anyone_?

_He's me. _

The thought was automatic, and set Reno's heart beating hard. A physical need for Axel – that was one thing. But this went deeper – this was a longing that physical contact alone could never fulfil – a need to be connected to another – _what_? _Soul_? Reno didn't believe in souls. The brain – that was the person – that was identity.

"Reno?" Tseng was looking at him, frowning.

"Sorry. Thinking. You're right – it can't be a coincidence. But what are you going to do? If he really can't remember – really doesn't know who he is…"

"We'll attempt to reverse the programming. It would be best if he would agree to cooperate, but if not, we can't risk him remaining free."

"Reverse the programming? How?"

"There are various theories. Professor Rei has compiled a list. Some are mental – some physical. Shock therapy can be effective."

No. This was Old Shinra – this was Hojo. Reno may have told himself he missed the autonomy and the power of the old days, but not this shit. No way. It tore at Reno as nothing had done before. However terrible the orders he'd had to follow before today, he'd never experienced a conflict like this. His duty had always been clear, and he'd done it. He looked at Tseng – the boss he'd respected and followed without question for years – and saw an enemy. How had it happened? How was it that Shinra turning on Axel felt exactly like Shinra turning on _him_?

"You really think he's that much of a threat?" Reno asked.

"The president is concerned."

How often had Reno heard that seemingly innocuous phrase in the past? Who knew better the kinds of horrors it could set in motion?

"Right." Reno strove to keep his expression unconcerned. "So – what do you want me to do?"

"He seems to trust you – although that could be an act. Talk to him. Try to persuade him that he should cooperate with us. Tell him we're trying ways to bring his memory back – which is more or less true."

"More or less. Yeah. Yeah – okay." Nothing he had done for Shinra – not even dropping the plate on Sector Seven – had made Reno feel as sick as the thought of betraying Axel did. For the first time in his life he understood how people turned traitor. He experienced a nauseating fear at the thought that perhaps Axel hadn't managed to get away.

But no. Axel was so much himself, that he knew he would have succeeded.

"I'm sorry Reno," Tseng said. "I know you thought he might be a relative. But he's not. He's just another potential threat to the future. Try to see it like that, despite the uncanny similarities."

"Okay. It's just – weird."

"It must be."

Tseng's phone shrilled into the silence that fell between them. He listened, his frown deepening, then he pushed the phone into his pocket angrily and looked at Reno.

"Axel's gone."

"What?" Reno's relief was so intense that his shock sounded sharp – genuine.

"He said he'd left something in the lab, went to the lifts and he's no longer in the building. He must have realised we were suspicious. Get him back, Reno. I want him in the cells by the end of the day. Persuade him if you can: use force if you have to."

"Yes, Boss."

Reno didn't have to feign his desire to leave the New Shinra building as quickly as he possibly could.

Although he had no reason to think that Tseng suspected him of wavering loyalty yet, Reno took great care to make sure that he wasn't being followed. Arriving at his apartment by a circuitous route, he pushed the door cautiously. It swung open, and he breathed out. Axel had gotten this far, at least. Reno packed quickly, throwing clothes, cash and ammunition into a duffle bag. He changed out of his uniform, stuffing the shirt, pants and jacket into the top of the bag, and pulling on jeans and a dark blue hoodie, hood up to hide his memorable hair.

Ten minutes later Reno reached the coffee shop on New Street. Pulling a packet of cigarettes from his pocket, he sat on an orange plastic swing in the empty play park. He lit up a smoke, watching the shop across the way. Through the plate glass of the windows he could see Axel, now dressed in a similarly low-key outfit to his own, his hands wrapped around a coffee cup. Reno's heart skipped, seeing Axel sitting there alone.

_Fuck_, he thought. _What is this shit?_ _I don't know him. I don't owe him. What the hell am I doing? I'm Shinra. I'm on Rufus' side – Axel said that himself. I should take him in. I have to._

Dropping his half smoked cigarette on the ground and crushing it beneath his heel, Reno strode over to the coffee shop and opened the door. Axel looked up and saw him, and his guileless smile, mirrored by Reno's own, was all it took to make Reno change his mind.


	5. Taking Sides

Chapter Five

**Taking Sides**

The crumbling apartment block on the edge of the remains of the Sector Five slums was about as different from Reno's brand new accommodation in Edge as Axel could imagine. Reno told Axel to keep his hood up and his eyes down as he led the way along a dark corridor with squeaking red lino on the floor, illuminated by a single, barred, frosted-glass window at the opposite end to the concrete stairs they had ascended. The corridor security cameras hadn't worked for years to Reno's knowledge, but it was best to be careful. Stopping outside one of four identical blank metal doors, Reno took an old-fashioned iron key from the back pocket of his jeans. "Number eight," he said over his shoulder.

"Yes?"

"Yes what?" Reno turned back to look at Axel, puzzled.

"You called me Number Eight. I – I don't know. That sounded _right_."

"No," said Reno, alarmed. "This is number eight – the apartment. There aren't any door numbers – you just have to know.

"But I'm sure that was me. Number Eight. We all had numbers. We –"

"Let's get inside," Reno said, standing back to let Axel into the apartment.

The door opened directly into a small living area containing a shabby couch, an ancient TV and a chair. One corner had been converted into a kitchen of sorts – a two-ring electric hob, a small refrigerator and a sink. Reno closed the door and threw a row of bolts on the back of it. "Okay," he said, taking off his hoodie and tossing it onto the couch, "This is home for a while. You'll be safe here. What's all this about numbers? Is your memory coming back?"

Axel pushed back the hood of his own top, and ran a hand through his spiky hair. "I'm not sure. I remembered something. There were a lot of us – we all had numbers. I was Eight – I do remember that."

"Not good."

Axel stood looking at Reno, his green eyes anxious. "Why? What do you think it means?"

"I don't know. But – Hojo was fond of giving his experiments numbers. You don't have a tattooed number anywhere do you? In Ancient numerals? That was his usual style."

"I don't know. I don't think so." Axel couldn't help smiling. "You could check."

"Axel –"

"Seriously. If I _am_ some kind of assassin copy made by this crazy professor guy, I want to know. And it would sure as hell be safer for you to know, too."

"But – if we find something…"

"Then I'll go with you, back to Shinra. You know what I can do with fire. I'm not taking the risk that I might attack _you_."

"And I'm not taking the risk of bringing you back to them. I know what they'll do. If they think you're a threat to the company they'll kill you. They call themselves New Shinra, but some things don't change."

"_They?_" Axel stripped off his top and the t-shirt he wore under it together, leaving his torso bare. As he removed his pants, he said, "I thought you were Rufus' man? Shouldn't it be _we_?"

Reno hesitated. "Yeah. Yeah – I'm not turning on them. It's just _you_ – I can't hand you over knowing what they'll do." Sighing, Reno put both hands on Axel's slender but muscular arms and turned him around. "I don't know why not – I always used to be able to do whatever they wanted – but with you I just can't. No – nothin' on your back." Reno found that he couldn't resist running his hands over Axel's smooth, warm skin. "You don't even have scars," he said. "I'm covered in them."

"Let me see," Axel replied.

"Not now. I'm looking for tattoos, remember?" Reno's fingers slipped beneath the waistband of Axel's underwear, and Axel smiled, leaning back against him. "Yeah. You're right – you should be thorough," Axel agreed, his breath coming faster as Reno eased the soft cotton over his very far from soft cock. Reno shook his head. "Not now."

Axel turned to face Reno. "But I want you."

"I know. And I want you – all the time. But we have to get a grip on it!"

"It's right here, for you to get a grip on," Axel laughed.

Reno sighed, but he was trying not to smile. "How old are you? I'm being serious, man!"

Axel looked perplexed. "I'm not sure how old I am. I can't remember. I guess I must be about your age – we're so alike. But seriously – I don't understand why we shouldn't do it now. We're alone – we have time. It would be stupid to waste it. Come on, Reno..." Axel's smile was deliberately seductive. He kissed Reno softly, flicking his tongue against Reno's lips. Reno closed his eyes, growling in aggravation. "Axel…"

"If you don't want to, all you have to do is say no," Axel said, kissing Reno's jaw and moving to the spot just below his ear where Axel knew from his own body that Reno would be irresistibly sensitive.

"Nnn," Reno moaned. Axel began to massage his cock through his jeans. "Didn't catch that," he murmured, licking Reno's earlobe, taking the earring between his teeth and tugging gently.

"Okay, okay!" Reno agreed, "Fuck, okay. Do what you want. You're right – it's stupid to waste the chance."

"Yes," Axel replied, his hands under Reno's t-shirt, pulling him down to the floor.

(X)

Some time later, Reno opened drowsy eyes as Axel asked, "So – are there any tattoos?"

"Hm?" Reno shifted on the narrow couch where they'd come to rest, Axel lying more or less on top of him. "You're hot."

"Thanks."

"No – I mean – well, yeah, you are – but I mean you're really hot. You run hotter than me. There's another difference between us." Reno pushed Axel off him, but he did it gently, and stood by the couch, unselfconscious in his complete nakedness, looking down at Axel. "No, there aren't any tattoos," he said. "I don't think you're anything to do with Hojo."

"I don't remember a Hojo," Axel said, sitting up. "But then I don't remember much of anything. Number Eight, though – I'm sure I was Number Eight."

"Well that's okay. Eight's my lucky number."

"Really?"

Reno grinned. "It is now. I need a shower. Want to join me?"

"Sure."

Reno picked up his pants from the floor, and Axel raised an eyebrow. "You're going to shower in your pants?"

"Need gil for the shower. Electricity and water are both metered here."

"Don't mean to be rude," Axel said, "But you've got that whole smart apartment in Edge. I know you said it wasn't your style, but what's the deal with this place? This doesn't look like _anyone's_ style!"

Reno found a handful of change and inserted ten gil into each of two black meter boxes attached to the wall in the kitchen area. A copper boiler above the sink began to rattle and wheeze. "After Meteor," Reno said, "Shinra wasn't exactly popular. For a while it looked like we might need to lie low. No one ever talked about it, but I reckon all of us have somewhere like this. I bought this place outright, in cash. No utility bills. I paid maintenance for five years, upfront, also in cash. The cupboards are full of canned food and a whole ton of rations I liberated from SOLDIER stores. No one will find you here."

Axel sighed. "I don't like hiding."

"It won't be for long. Just until you remember."

"What if I don't remember?"

Reno returned to Axel and knelt on the carpet in front him, hands on Axel's thighs. "You will remember. You've already remembered a lot – the town beginning with T, people you knew, the fact that you've been some kind of spy or assassin, Number Eight. It will come back. But until it does, you're safest here. Okay?"

Axel leaned forwards and kissed Reno. "Okay," he said. "Whatever you say."

"Good. Let's take that shower."

Axel followed Reno into the tiny bathroom, looking at the pattern of scars on the Turk's back, some still red, others faded to silvery white. He traced the long curve of something that looked like a wound from a narrow blade on Reno's right shoulder. Reno turned. "Not a pretty sight, huh?"

"Memories," Axel said. "Reminders. They're part of who you are. I want to know all of them – all about all of them – get them memorized."

Once they'd squeezed into the small shower cubicle and Reno had turned on the water, which was already surprisingly hot, Axel moved closer in behind Reno, one arm around his waist, and ran his tongue the length of the scar. Reno shivered, despite the steam and the heat of the water.

"I want to taste all of them," Axel said. "I need to know all of your body. I need to know everything about you. I love you."

Axel's words shocked Reno in a completely unexpected way. No one got this close – this personal. If anyone else had spoken that phrase, Reno would have run - naked and wet or not. But because the words were Axel's they made sense as nothing else ever had.

"Yeah," Reno said, turning to face Axel and drawing him into a slippery embrace. "Yeah – I know. I know. I love you, too." The words he'd never thought he'd say – let alone say and mean. With anyone else they would have been impossible, but with Axel they were easy. More than easy - necessary.

Axel smiled. "That's it," he said, as though the fact that had been such a revelation to Reno had always been too obvious to mention before now. "Love. What else matters?"

Reno knew there were answers to that – pride in his work - Shinra falling and then reborn, Rufus surviving to lead them into the future – his duty to Tseng, Elena and Rude – Rude, who had been left drinking alone last night because Reno had forgotten him in the discovery of Axel. Those things mattered. Those things were important.

"Yes, but –" Reno was starting to try to put his thoughts into words, until Axel kissed him, and he forgot whatever it was he'd been going to say.

(X)

It was much later than Reno had intended when he slipped out of the building, leaving Axel to bolt the door behind him, and made his way back into Edge by a series of alleys and side streets. Returning to the New Shinra building, he didn't have to feign anxiety when confronting Tseng.

"Sorry, Boss. No sign of him anywhere. I went back to mine, but it was locked and nothing's been taken. He must still be in that weird coat, unless he's managed to steal something. No one I asked had seen anyone answering to his description. Maybe he's found a way to leave town?"

"It's possible. It's much harder to keep track now that the whole transport network is so fragmented. But we can't just let this go. Rufus thinks he's a potential threat, and I have to say I agree. I'll put Rude and Elena on the case as well. Someone must have seen something. Finding him is going to come down to old-fashioned detective work. I'll need a report on what he said and did after you left the building last night."

"Didn't do much, apart from nearly burn down Trong's." Reno managed to grin in his usual fashion at Tseng's raised eyebrow. "Accident with a candle. I'll put it in the report. After that we went back to mine – had a couple of beers, watched some shit on TV. Asked him a bunch of questions, but he couldn't remember much. Something about a town beginning with T?"

"Make sure you include everything you can remember," Tseng said. "Even the smallest detail might be significant."

_What's significant is that when he touches me_ _I don't know where he starts and I end, _Reno thought._ Do you believe in soul-mates, Tseng? _Aloud he only replied, "Will do, Boss.

(X)

Rude leaned against the door of the office, watching Reno at work on his report. Eventually he said, "So – you took him home last night?"

"Yeah. Thought he had to be my twin. Or my brother at least. But they say not."

"No. Can't blame you for thinking that. Tseng showed me the footage from the labs. He looks so like you."

"Yeah. Guess – should've been more careful, huh? Kinda liked the idea of finding family, you know?"

Rude nodded.

"Yeah," Reno said into Rude's silence. "Guess I always wondered."

"You never knew any of your family at all?"

"Nope. You grow up looking out for people, you know? Anyone with red hair – people the right age. When I first saw Cissnei I thought maybe - although her eyes were brown. But every time anyone called her Ciss… Stupid, huh?"

"No."

"Sector Seven… I used to wonder. Not so much about whoever left me in that bar – but whether there'd been any brothers or sisters. If one of them ended up in Seven, and I'd killed them without even knowing. So when Axel turned up – hell, Rude, he even sounds like me! What was I supposed to think?"

"You thought he could be your twin."

"Yeah – except he's not. Last night – I was so carried away with that idea I forgot I was supposed to be meeting you. But now it seems Axel could be something Hojo made. He could be anything. Tseng and Rufus are right; he could be some kind of assassin. I just – it's weird. One minute I'm thinking I've found some long-lost brother, and the next I'm hunting him down."

"You liked him?"

"Yeah. I mean, he couldn't remember much – or that's what he said. But, yeah. He seemed… I don't know. Familiar. Like I knew him already. Like – déjà vu."

"You have a problem with bringing him in?"

Reno took time to look as though he was considering the question. Lying to Rude felt so wrong that Reno couldn't believe he was doing it – but the need to protect Axel was even stronger than his long-standing, deep friendship with his partner.

"Can't say I like the idea," Reno said at last, sticking as close to the truth as he dared. "I believed in his memory loss. Maybe I'm being naïve, but he seemed to mean what he said. If they interrogate him, or hand him over to the scientists…"

"He's not related to you," Rude said. "You have to remember that. However similar he looks, he's a stranger. He could be a threat."

"I know."

"Why did he take off, if he's no danger to us? What spooked him?"

"I don't know. Unless he remembered something?"

"In which case, it can't have been anything good."

"I guess not." Reno sighed. "Don't worry, partner. We've come this far – can't risk Rufus's shiny New Shinra."

"No. Could you kill him, if it came to it?"

"Not saying it would be easy, but yeah. When did I ever refuse an order?" Reno made himself smile and met Rude's steady gaze. "You know me - I'll do what has to be done."

Rude nodded, reassured. Reno thrust his hands into his pockets to stop them shaking. Lying to his partner of so many years made him feel sick. The thought of killing Axel made him feel sicker. The realisation that, if it came to a choice between the two of them, he'd rather kill Rude – that made him sickest of all.


	6. Memories

**It's been forever but I'll finish one day. Thank you so much for the favourites and reviews, they keep me encouraged to write. I'm changing this to the FFVII main fandom for now, as it's set in that world at least for the moment. **

**Memories**

Alone in Reno's secret apartment Axel paced back and forth across the small living room, trying to remember. The TV was on – Reno had left a pile of gil for the electricity meter – and Axel glanced at it from time to time in case any of the images prompted some memory, but nothing looked familiar. Eventually he sat down on the couch, elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, eyes scrunched closed.

All right. Things he did remember. Making a list in his head might help bring back more memories; one thing might connect with another until he made a chain strong enough to grasp.

Speaking aloud, because it made the memories seem more concrete somehow, Axel recounted the ideas and images from his past as they came to him.

"I remember number eight. I was Number Eight, I'm sure about that. I worked for a group – there were several of us. The boy with blond hair. The dark girl. I don't – I can't picture the others, but I know there were more. At least eight, I suppose. Yes. And the organisation I worked for – The Organization. Was that its name? Huh. Original! I killed people, for them. I used fire, and those weapons – like – like wheels –" Axel's hands clenched into fists, remembering. "Wheels, with blades, and fire! What kind of a weapon is that? Reno might know. And there were shadows I fought that were creatures without hearts. And I – I thought I had no heart, but here I do."

A sudden image came into Axel's mind, vivid and sinister; a swirling oval of dark fog-like tendrils, with blue-black darkness at its heart, dark as the spaces between the stars. Somehow he knew it was a gateway. "There were other worlds!" he remembered. "When I told Reno I would have found him in any possible world, _that's_ what I meant! There was –"

_A world of sand and a walled city. A place of tombs and leafless trees filled with weird undead creatures where it was always night. Castles – towers, turrets, arrow-loops and crenellations – more than one castle? A clock tower that was somehow important, and the far off sound of a train. Forests, and gardens; mazes and ornately worked wrought iron gates. Islands – sandy beaches where the wind blew warm; palm trees and seas the colour of Reno's eyes. _

Axel remembered them all, but he had no names for any of these places, or any memory of what he had done there, beyond fighting. Always fighting.

"What was I fighting _for_?" Axel wondered. "Did I know? If these memories are real, then I'm not what Shinra is afraid I am. I don't remember any Hojo. But what am I? It was something to do with hearts – with not having a heart. I was looking for somebody – for _my_ Somebody. Is it Reno? I hope so. I wouldn't want it to be anybody else. It must be Reno or it's too much of a coincidence that I came _here_ – that the first person I met was him. But he has a life here. Shinra. This Rufus. Tseng. He has comrades and friends. Even if I could open a – a - what was it, the gateway? A_ corridor_. Yes. But even if I could open one, would he come with me? What would my life be, back there? Wouldn't they – that Organization – wouldn't they be as suspicious of him as Shinra is of me? If they ordered me to take him in for questioning, could I do it? If they ordered me to kill -

"No. He has his loyalties here, but I don't feel any loyalty to who ever they were in the Organization. Only – that boy. But he went away… Why can't I remember?"

Frustrated, Axel felt anger building hot inside him and he jumped to his feet, startled, as physical sparks appeared at his fingertips. Forcing himself to taken deep breaths, he stamped out a stray ember that threatened to ignite the carpet, and then went to the sink to pour himself a glass of water. He drank the water slowly, focussing on the television, trying to make himself relax so that he didn't accidentally set Reno's apartment on fire.

"If I didn't have anything to do with Hojo, then do I have anything to fear from Shinra?" Axel wondered. "I can use fire. If they tried to do anything against my will I would burn them. Perhaps it would be better to go back there – talk to this Rufus Shinra guy. Hiding just – isn't my style. Or Reno's, normally, I bet. Yeah – I'll wait for him to come back, and then he can pretend he found me and take me in. That way he won't get in trouble with his friends. Maybe Shinra _can_ help me to remember?"

(x)

Once he'd finished his report for Tseng - largely sticking to the truth of the things Axel had said and done during the night at his apartment, but omitting the key fact of Axel's strange ability with fire and changing their passionate encounter into an evening spent in front of the TV with a couple of beers - Reno spent the rest of the afternoon pretending to check the very area of Edge containing the coffee shop where he'd met Axel, while Rude and Elena asked futile questions at the station and quizzed taxi drivers about their recent customers.

Meeting back in Tseng's office at six o'clock, all three Turks admitted their failure to find any trace of Axel.

"Sorry, Sir," Elena sighed. "No one I spoke to had seen anything out of the ordinary."

"The station manager gave me access to all the footage from their security camera, but there was no sign of him," Rude reported.

"I got nothin'," Reno said. "What if he went back where he came from?"

"It's possible he's left Edge," Tseng agreed. "We'll resume the search in the morning. In the meantime I want everyone here with the President. I want Rufus protected around the clock just in case Axel is still in Edge and does turn out to be a threat. It's possible Rufus may be a target."

"Yes Sir," replied Rude and Elena, Reno's identical answer coming only a heartbeat later.

Rude looked at Reno. It wasn't his partner's usual response. A casual 'yeah, yeah,' or a cheery 'you got it, boss!' – those were more his style. Something had been marginally off about Reno ever since Axel's arrival, and it disturbed Rude deeply. He was no longer sure he believed Reno's earlier assurance that he'd have no problem bringing Axel in. The idea that Reno might be lying to him was not something he'd ever had to face in all the years of their partnership. But perhaps it wasn't as extreme as deliberate lying? Perhaps Reno's long-held hope that he'd someday find a member of the family he'd never known was blinding him to the truth of how much of a threat Axel could possibly present. Was Reno deliberately lying to Rude, or was he lying to himself?

Rude decided to say nothing to Elena or Tseng. He'd always trusted Reno with both Rufus' life and his own – he'd give him the benefit of the doubt for as long as he possibly could. But he resolved to keep an eye on his partner, as much for Reno's sake as for Rufus's.

Reno took the first shift outside Rufus' top floor office. He paced the corridor restlessly, glad of the physical motion, thinking only about Axel. Tseng's security measures meant that all the Turks not on their shifts would sleep in their rooms inside the New Shinra building, and Reno was stuck with no way of contacting Axel. He hoped Axel would have the sense to stay put and wait. There was plenty of food in the apartment, and enough gil to keep him supplied with electricity for at least a week, but what bothered Reno was the sure knowledge that in Axel's position he'd last about a day at most before curiosity and sheer boredom drove him out of hiding. And if Axel went wandering about the streets of Edge on his own – well - even if one of the other Turks didn't apprehend him he could still get into some serious trouble. If he got wound up and did that thing with fire…

Except for Rufus himself, who practically counted as one of them anyway, Reno couldn't remember ever feeling so much concern for anyone who wasn't a Turk. The Turks had accepted him when no one else would – they were the only family he'd ever known. But Axel was different. Axel was –

What was Axel, exactly? Reno tried to view him objectively, but the task was as impossible as trying to make an unbiased assessment of himself. He knew Axel too well, even though he knew almost nothing about him. There had to be more to their connection than the apparent coincidence of their striking physical similarities. If Axel was just a clone grown in a lab, something of Hojo's making, then why should Reno feel this overwhelming emotiontowards him? _Love_? Was it really _love_? What the hell did Reno know about that shit anyway? But he had no other word for it. He tried _obsession_, _crush, infatuation_, but none of those were a fit. They all encompassed the physical desire – the yearning – but not the other feelings that were more shocking to Reno: the anxiety about Axel's safety, the need to protect him, the need to understand.

Elena came to relieve Reno two hours later. He went to his room, but despite the fact that the beds in the new building were much more comfortable than the narrow bunks in the old staff dormitories had been, he was unable to sleep. After half an hour's fitful restlessness, he got up, dressed, and went up to Tseng's office, not surprised to find the Director there.

Tseng looked up as he entered. "Reno. Have you thought of a lead?"

"No, but I was wondering – those reports from the tests we did. Can I see them?"

"Of course. Do you think they'll help?" Tseng instantly put his hand on one of several neat piles of documents stacked on his desk, and passed the relevant file to Reno.

Reno flicked through pages of information. "I don't know. I was just thinking – if we're so alike – mentally, I mean – maybe I can figure out what he'll do next. You know – what I'd do in his position."

"It's worth a shot. The similarities in your answers are remarkable. Especially in the psych tests, where you might expect differences in upbringing and environment to have an impact even if you _were_ twins or clones.

"Like what?" Reno asked.

"Likes and dislikes. That section on art, for example."

"Don't know anything about art."

"Yes, but if you compare your results, you both liked identical pictures."

"Mostly went by colour."

"So did he, it would seem. The thing is, these tests were designed to give consistent results over time. They're tests of baseline personality. If you compare your answers now to the ones you gave when you first joined the company they're almost identical. If Hojo got hold of your files, Axel could have been taught to replicate your results."

Reno ran one hand through his hair, frowning. "Yeah – but – then why would he give those answers now? I mean, say he _is_ some kinda assassination clone – well, not clone, but some kinda engineered type of thing - and his job was to replace me and get close to the president, maybe to kill _him_ – why would he give us this clue? If it was me, I'd make shit up. It doesn't add up, you know?"

"It's only one of many theories. Perhaps he was a project of the former president's – to replace you and spy on the Turks. Back when Veld disappeared. Perhaps the project was incomplete, or abandoned."

"Yeah – well, I wouldn't put anything past the old president."

"The point is that we need to find out the truth. It must bother you that he's out there, surely? All he'd need would be a haircut and some makeup over those tattoos, and he could pass as you."

"Yeah. Yeah, it's – weird. Can I take this file?"

"Yes. Let me know if you have any ideas."

"Will do." Reno took the file back to his room, and compared all of Axel's answers with his own, but there were almost no differences, and the ones that existed seemed trivial – Axel rating himself as marginally less extrovert than Reno had done, for example. Their handwriting was so alike that Reno often had to refer to the name on the front of a test paper to work out whether it was Axel's or his own. Reno knew he should be feeling disturbed by the impossible closeness of the correlation between them, but all he felt was a profoundly reassuring sense of inevitability. He belonged with Axel. Everything proved it – even the psych tests. How could anybody argue with that?

Reno put the file to one side and closed his eyes with a sigh. What was Axel getting him into? All he knew was that he'd do whatever it took to keep Axel safe – and if that meant going against orders to save him from New Shinra's clutches then so be it. Reno pictured Axel alone in the bolthole. What would he be doing now? Pacing impatiently waiting for Reno to return? Both of them had been counting on that happening… Reno muttered a curse under his breath. _Get a grip! _he admonished himself. _He's only lost his memory – he's not an idiot. He'll be fine, and you can survive one night without him. _

But thoughts of what they could have done if they'd been togetherkept suggesting themselves to Reno. He tried ignoring the arousal caused by such ideas, but memories of the times they'd already been together insisted on drifting into his consciousness: Axel smiling at him in that deliberately provocative way – Axel's hands on his skin – Axel's mouth on his cock – the heat of him – the taste –

Reno gave in to temptation, bringing himself to a shuddering climax fuelled by memories of Axel, images of Axel, uncontrolled need for Axel. His relief afterwards was as intense as an addict getting his fix, and he knew it would be just as short-lived.

(x)

The door of a neighbouring apartment slammed shut, and Axel paused in his restive pacing to listen.

"Reno?" he asked aloud, before he realised what the sound had been. There didn't seem to be a clock in Reno's apartment as far as Axel could discover, but he knew that it must be very late. What had happened? The most likely explanation was that Reno had judged it necessary to stay with the other Turks to avert suspicion, but Axel couldn't prevent his mind from jumping to more dangerous scenarios. What if Reno had been found out? What if someone had seen them meeting in the coffee shop, or later, on the way to this apartment? What would happen to him if this Rufus Shinra thought he was a traitor?

"In the Organization," Axel thought, "a traitor would have been killed. Saix would have sent me – Saix!" He caught at the memory of someone he'd known – a person of chilling focus and utterly heartless, but before that… before that…

Axel clutched at his head with a cry of pure frustration as the memory slipped away. Raging, he circled the small room, sparks flying around him unheeded. "If they think Reno's a traitor they'll kill him!" he told himself. "I can't just stay here and wait! Those people I remember – those places – they're not _here_. I have to see Rufus Shinra before Reno gives himself away. I can't let him sacrifice himself to protect me, like that girl who wasn't real – _Xion_ – yes! Like Xion wanted to do for Roxas -"

And with the memory of Roxas' name, the other memories returned in a flood that extinguished Axel's fire, and left him on his knees in the middle of Reno's apartment, his hand on his heart, gasping for air as if he were drowning.


End file.
